Thought Leadership
Following a serious security incident in the summer of 2024, Disney has now taken drastic measures. The company will stop using the popular communication platform Slack completely.
This decision follows an incident in which the hacker group NullBulge managed to steal more than a terabyte of internal data from Disney’s Slack channels. This included details of upcoming projects, financial information, IT-related data and other confidential company information. But this was not the only incident. A month earlier, Disney had already fallen victim to another data leak. This involved 2.5 gigabytes of data being stolen from the company’s Confluence server and published on the 4chan message board. This data concerned both the online game Club Penguin and general company information.
The attackers justified their action by criticizing Disney’s use of artificial intelligence to create artwork. The hackers’ claim that they had help from an insider was particularly explosive.
Hugh Johnston, Disney’s Chief Financial Officer, informed employees by email of the far-reaching decision by the company’s management. He explained that the technology teams will now initiate the transition away from Slack by the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2025 for most business units. The full transition should be completed by the second quarter of 2025, although some areas will need more time to make the switch.
It is not yet clear which platform Disney will use for internal communication in the future. Possible options could include switching to another company platform such as Microsoft Teams or developing its own internal software.
The incidents at Disney are unfortunately not an isolated case. Communication platforms such as Slack are a popular target for cyber criminals due to the confidential information shared there.
